Ticket issuing machines



Oct. 3, 1961 A. J. PEARSON TICKET ISSUING MACHINES 2 Sheets-She et 1 Filed Jan. 11, 1960 INVENTOR ALF/Q50 J. PEBRSON TICKET ISSUING MACHINES Filed Jan. 11, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 I 4 4 7 E 1 7 c 3] Z a;

INVENTOR ELF/WED JT PEHRSM/ BY JA &M, M WZ ATTORNEYS Uaims. (Cl; 101-66) This invention relates to ticket issuingmachihes suit able for use by ticket issuing"personnel such as the cornductors' of omnibuses', trolley buses and tramc'ars; which machines are usually portable and are" carried by the operator, so that they must be as light and as; simple'as possible. g

In such machines there is provided a prir'lt'ing drum having'on its periphery an arcuate platebearingfrai'sed characters for printing certain" information which is re' quired on all the tickets issued, and having openings" therein to accommodate discsibearing on their peripheries other characters for printing changeable information such astlie price of the ticket, the numberof' the" stages at which the vehicle was boarded by. the passengergand the class of ticket (ordinary, return, child, etci). The discs are rotatable in the drum by suitable setting means;

To provide information regarding the tickets so1'd,..it is" desirable to. recordthe variable information printed on each, ticket, and the object of the'present invention is'ftotenable this'information to be printed, on arecord strip; retained in the machine, by the ticket printing drum.

According to the present invention, in a ticket issuing machine including a printing. drum against which a ticket strip is pressed by a pressure roller so that ticketsjIare, printed by rotation of the dru snddrum bearing char; acters providing fixed information required. on all. tickets issued and variable information required to" be printed on the tickets being provided by characters; on the. peripheries of discs rotatably mounted in 'the dru'm and grouped together so that the variabl'cfinforniat'iori isconfined to one part of the ticket, the printing surfaces. of the characters on said discs stand proud of the. printing surfaces of the characters on the printingldrum, and a record strip is assed over a second pressure roller arranged to press thesaid record strip only'agains't the characters which stand proudso that only those charactors are reproduced on the record, strip 1 The discs bearing the characters providing the varia ble'information are preferably mounted, co-axially to rotate about an axis parallel to the. axis of the printing drum.

The periphery of the printing drum maybe bulged outwardly at the position of the rotatable discs.

A take-up roller maybe provided for therecord strip and may be rotated by means operated bythe rotation of tie printing drum. 7

The invention is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

States Patent" FIGURE 1 is a front elevation of a ticket issuing ma.-

chine embodying the invention with'partof. the casing: removed; 7 v

FIGURE 2 is a section on the line 2 20f FIGURE 1 showing some of the parts separatedfrointhe machine;

FIGURE 3 is a section in a plane parallel to that of FIGURE 2, through the printing drum-and the record strip carrying assembly;

FIGURE 4is a rear view of the record strip carrying assembly;

FIGURE 5 is an underneath viewofthe record strip carrying assembly; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional planon the line. d-edof FIGURE 2, showing a detail.

Referring to FIGURE 1 of the drawings the ticket 3,002,143 Patent 2 issuing machine comprisestwo compartments arranged side by'side, the'compartment 1t housing the tick'et'prmtin'g'm'echanism and the compartment 11 housing'totalis ing mechanism providing an indication of the totalnum to form a window 14 extending across the. width of the.

drum. A; row of settable discs 15, 16, 17,18, 19 and20 are mounted in the drum for rotation about. a common axis eccentric to the drumaxis, the. discs having formed: in relief on their peripheral surfaces characters for pro, vidin variable information on the tickets. printed. A row of characters on these discs at their radially outermost points with, respect to the drum axis lies'across the centre of the window 14-, these characters standing slightly proud of the characters on the printing plate it; self, and-the edges of the plate at the window are bulged, slightly outwardly radially of the drum, as shown in. FIGURES'Z and 3, so as to have substantially the same, radial distance from the drum centre as the surfaces oi the characters in that row.

In, the machine illustrated, the discs. 15 and 16 bear, digits providing the number of the farev stage fron'lj which the ticket is available, the disc '17 bears letters iii;

dicating the class of ticket, the discs 18 and 19 bear-s.

fractions and digits respectively indicating peace, and the disc 20 bears digits indicating shillings, so that these last three discs together show the ticket value.

The printing drum 12. is rotatable by means of an ex ternal handle 21.

The mechanismfor setting the discs forms no part of; this invention, and is not described herein, mechanisms, for this-purpose beingwell known. The shillings disc 20 is set by rotation of a quadrant '22 on the outer side of the compartment 11, the pence and half-pence discs 19: and, 18 are set by a wheel 23 mounted between the quadrant 22 and the side of the compartment 11,, and, the discs i5, 16 and 17 are set by knobs 24 and 25 co-. axial with the boss of the handle 21, the knob 24 setting the discs 15, 16 and the knob 25 setting the disc 17,;

Tickets are printed on a paper strip 26 (FIGURE 2,) carried on a spoolin the upper part oftlie compartment 10 and led between the surface of the printing drum 12: and the surface of a pressure. roller 27 which is resiliently urged against the surface of the printing drum, rotation of the printing drum feeding-the paper strip forwardlyand ejecting it through a slot in the machine so that each;v ticket, after printing, can be torn oit and handed to the. passenger for whom it is issued. An inking roller 28 1901 the printing drum is mounted below and behind-the said drum As shown in FIGURES 2, 3, 4 and 5, a trame'29- is mounted in the compartment 1% behind the printing drum .12,-the frame 29 consisting of two side plates 31, 31-

spaccd apart by spacing tubes 32, 32 against-the ends of? and a collar Shahaving flats on-its periphery with which aspring arm 38b co-operates to position the spindle 36* after each increment of movement. The plates 31amcut. away at their lower rearward-portions, and a pair of resilient plates 39 secured at their forward parts to the plates 31 in front of the cut-away portions of the latter,

Y 3 are cranked inwardly as shown in FIGURE to grip the ends of a roll of paper strip 40 carried by a spindle 41 engaged in slots 42 extending inwardly from the rear edges of the resilient plates 39. A second pair of slots 43- extending inwardly from the rear edges of the plates 31 accommodate the spindle 44 of a take-up roller 45, the paper strip 40 being led from the roll on the spindle 41 over the roller 35 and on to the take-up roller 45. Springs 46 coiled about screws 47 mounted in the plates 31 and anchored to the screws 33 securing the plates 31 to one ofthe spacing tubes 32 bear against the spindle 44 to press the take-up roller 45 towards the roller 37, so that the latter roller bears on the surface of the paper strip wound on the take-up roller and, when rotated, rotates the take-up roller to wind the paper strip on to it.

The frame 29 is located in the compartment by engagement of the ends of the spindle 34 in notches 48 in locating blocks 49 (FIGURE 2) secured to the walls ofthe compartment 10, and is so positioned that the paper strip, where it passes over the roller 35, is at a radial distance from the centre of the printing drum such that it is not engaged by the characters on the printing plate as the drum rotates, but is engaged by the characters on the discs to inclusive. The locating blocks 49 are secured each by a single screw 50, as shown in FIGURE 2, and are adjustable about the said screws to provide the correct spacing of the roller from the printing drum axis by means of adjustableabutments 50a. A striker 51 is mounted on one side of the printing drum 12 in such a position that during rotation of the said drum, after the discs 15 to 20 have passed the roller 35, it engages the star wheel 38 and rotates it through one step. The rotation of the printing drum as the discs 15 to 20 pass the roller 35 advances the strip through a short distance, leaving the strip slack between the said roller 35 and the take-up roller, the subsequent rotation of the star wheel 38 winding the slack on to the take-up roller and drawing a small further length of the strip off the roll on the spindle 41, to provide a space between successive imprints on the strip.

The frame 29 is urged inwardly by blade springs 52 mounted on a removable back-plate 53 closing an opening in the back of the compartment 10, and is located against tilting about the spindle 34 by engagement of one end of the spindle 36 in a third locating block 54 secured to the wall of the compartment 10. V

The back-plate 53, as shown in FIGUREv 3, has an upward projection 55 at its upper end to engage the inner face of a fixed part of the rear wallof the compartment 10, and is shaped adjacent its lower end to provide an inwardly projecting U-shaped bend forming a transverse channel 56. The back-plate 53 is held in place in the machine by a rod 57 passing through the channel 56 and through holes in the side plates of the compartment 10, the rod 57 being enlarged in diameter at one end and the enlargement being grooved circumferentially at 58 (FIG- URE 6) to receive a locking member 59 mounted by means of a blade spring 61 in the inner face of the back-. plate. The blade spring 61 urges the locking member 59 into the groove 58, but can be released by passing any It will be seen that, at each operation of the machine to print and deliver a ticket, the information set up on the discs 15 to 20 will be printed on the record strip 40, and a length of the record strip slightly greater than that occupied by the line of print, but very much shorter than a complete ticket, will be transferred to the take-up roller 45. Thus a record strip 40 of relatively short length is produced which bears sufficient information to enable the ticket sales to be analysed in considerable detail, since not only the fares paid but also the passenger density at all points along the route can be ascertained.

The record strip, when filled, is removed by removing the back-plate 53, taking out the frame 29, disengaging the springs 46 from the spindle 44-, and removing the spindle and take-up roller by sliding the former along the slots 43; A fresh record strip 40, rolled on the spindle 41, is then inserted between the resilient plates 39, passed over the roller 35 and its end secured to the take-up roller 45, for example by an adhesive. The resilient plates, besides holding the roller on the spindle 41 in place, prov-ide a braking action to prevent the strip from being unrolled :too freely.

It will be understood that the information provided on the settable discs may be modified as desired, and that the number of discs may be greater or less than six. Moreover, the disc setting means may be of any suitable type.

I claim:

1. A ticket issuing machine comprising a rotatable printing'drum, means for rotating said drum, a pressure roller in surface contact with the printing drum, means resiliently urging said pressure roller into contact with the drum, said drum having characters provided on its periphery and providing fixed information required on all tickets issued, a spool containing a paper ticket strip disposed adjacent the drum with the ticket strip passing betwe'en'the nip of the drum and the pressure roller and being fed by the rotation of the drum so that the ticket strip moves with the drum during passage of the characters past the pressure roller, a plurality of discs mounted on the drum and being selectively rotatable and having characters on their peripheries, the characters radially projecting beyond the periphery of the drum and providing variable information, roller means disposed adjacent the drum, means containing a paper record strip disposed adjacent the drum with the record strip passing between the drum and the roller means and being urged by the roller means only against the characters on the discs so that these characters are reproduced on the record strip and the record strip passing between the characters on the discs and the rollermeans when the drum is rotated and being moved only when the discs are passing in contact with the roller means.

' 2. A ticket issuing machine according to claim 1,

wherein the discs bearing the characters providing the variable information are mounted co-axially to rotate about an axis parallel to the axis of the printing drum.

3. A ticket issuing machine according to claim 1, wherein a take-up roller is provided for the record strip, means operated by the rotation of the printing drum being provided for rotating the said take-up roller.

4. A ticket issuing machine according to claim 3, wherein rotation of the take-up roller is effected by mechanism including a star wheel driven by a projection on the printing drum.

5. A ticket issuing machine according to claim 3, wherein the take-up roller is rotated by a friction roller engaging the part of the record strip wound on to the said take-up roller.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,115,626 Von Pein Nov. 3, 1914 1,506,242 Keller Aug. 26, 1924 'l,858,8l3 Wheelbarger May 17, 1932 1,981,205 Stimson Nov. 20, 1934 2,014,707 Thomson Sept. 17, 1935 2,682,833 Gardinor July 6, 1954 2,825,279 Gottscho Mar. 4, 1958 

